Integrating expertise into automation - Formalising expert knowledge for a human-centred design of industry 5.0 applications

Knowledge assurance and automation solutions become increasingly important in almost all areas of industrial production. To avoid undesirable effects and to utilise the full potential of automation, it is crucial to integrate human expert knowledge in the technology development process. The research objective was to elicit and formalise expert knowledge and combine the results with a complementary, data based approach incorporating technical measurements. Transparent AI models were used to bring together the human and technical perspectives. Therefore, results of two studies based on cognitive engineering methods for an exemplary surface treatment process are presented: (1) A cognitive task analysis and (2) a subsequent expert study in-depth analysing one of the identified target variables (surface roughness) to formalise expert knowledge that is difficult to verbalise. To this end, we conducted experimental tests with experts who assessed the target criterion of presented material samples. In addition, parameters of the samples were technically measured, and the data were modelled using AI algorithms. The results illustrate a human-centred approach to a systematic investigation and digitisation of expert knowledge. Effects found, furthermore, provide information on important aspects of the design of the human-machine interface (e.g. possible voice control) for a seamless cooperation between human and machine.